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D'Antoni: Mike Woodson Not A Defensive Coach!

Don’t use “Mike Woodson” and “defensive coach” in the same sentence in front of Mike D’Antoni.

The Knicks’ head coach doesn’t want to hear it.

“He’s a basketball coach, OK?” an annoyed D’Antoni said when asked about Woodson’s role. “I keep saying it. Hopefully one of these days it will get through. We’re not football. We don’t have [separate coaches for] offense and defense.”

That may be true. But so far, Woodson has played the part of defensive coordinator for the Knicks.

On the court and in the film room during training camp, Woodson talks to players about defense; D’Antoni sticks to offense.

“I can’t step on his toes too much,” D’Antoni said.

It makes for a strange scene on the practice court at times, Woodson on the floor talking to players while D’Antoni stands on the sideline.

But, D’Antoni insists that it’s working well -- so far.

“He is a great coach and hopefully his voice will help,” he said.

The Knicks reportedly were searching for a defensive-minded coach to add in the offseason. So they turned to Woodson, hiring the former Hawks head coach as an assistant in late August.

"I'm just a coach that's looking for an opportunity. I have experience and I'm just excited about the opportunity," Woodson said at the time. "That's all a coach in this league can ask for."

Woodson faces a tough task this winter. He has 16 days of training camp to turn around a Knicks club that ranked 26th in opponent field goal percentage last year and allowed an average of 45.4 points in the paint, the fifth-highest total in the league.

With 7-1 Tyson Chanlder in tow, those numbers should improve.

If so, Woodson will likely get credit.

But if the defense struggles again, does D’Antoni get the blame? The lame-duck coach would be an easy target.

But no one at Knicks camp is worried about that right now.

With just nine practices left before the season opener, Amare Stoudemire insists the focus in camp is on clamping down at the defensive end.

“That’s what the goals are right now ... to become known as a defensive team,” Stoudemire said.

To get there, they will have to listen to Woodson. They just can’t call him a defensive coach.

The First Ripple?

Mike, your teams have always sucked at defense, deal with it. Someone needed to be brought in to sew up the holes in your strategy.

Mike O' Antoni is just in denial, he cannot admit that his run and gun system was played out by the mid 80's, this is not the ABA, i refuse to believe that you can win a Championship in the NBA that way! and i still don't understand what an OG like Walsh was thinking when he hired the offensive "Guru", what a joke! Welcome, Mike Woodson, your future Knicks head coach![it's only a matter of time before the players start tuning MOA out, then, the power struggle begin]

So lets rate Mike D's level of insecurity from 1 to 10 when it comes to his ability to coach offense....10

He has always tried to overcompensate for his lack of defensive knowledge by having his teams score the most points. Hes finally realized that you need defense to win a NBA championship, but interviews like this show that hes still very insecure.

Don’t use “Mike Woodson” and “defensive coach” in the same sentence in front of Mike D’Antoni.

The Knicks’ head coach doesn’t want to hear it.

“He’s a basketball coach, OK?” an annoyed D’Antoni said when asked about Woodson’s role. “I keep saying it. Hopefully one of these days it will get through. We’re not football. We don’t have [separate coaches for] offense and defense.”

That may be true. But so far, Woodson has played the part of defensive coordinator for the Knicks.

On the court and in the film room during training camp, Woodson talks to players about defense; D’Antoni sticks to offense.

“I can’t step on his toes too much,” D’Antoni said.

It makes for a strange scene on the practice court at times, Woodson on the floor talking to players while D’Antoni stands on the sideline.

But, D’Antoni insists that it’s working well -- so far.

“He is a great coach and hopefully his voice will help,” he said.

The Knicks reportedly were searching for a defensive-minded coach to add in the offseason. So they turned to Woodson, hiring the former Hawks head coach as an assistant in late August.

"I'm just a coach that's looking for an opportunity. I have experience and I'm just excited about the opportunity," Woodson said at the time. "That's all a coach in this league can ask for."

Woodson faces a tough task this winter. He has 16 days of training camp to turn around a Knicks club that ranked 26th in opponent field goal percentage last year and allowed an average of 45.4 points in the paint, the fifth-highest total in the league.

With 7-1 Tyson Chanlder in tow, those numbers should improve.

If so, Woodson will likely get credit.

But if the defense struggles again, does D’Antoni get the blame? The lame-duck coach would be an easy target.

But no one at Knicks camp is worried about that right now.

With just nine practices left before the season opener, Amare Stoudemire insists the focus in camp is on clamping down at the defensive end.

“That’s what the goals are right now ... to become known as a defensive team,” Stoudemire said.

To get there, they will have to listen to Woodson. They just can’t call him a defensive coach.

The First Ripple?

Mike, your teams have always sucked at defense, deal with it. Someone needed to be brought in to sew up the holes in your strategy.

If he's not a defensive coach, then you're not an offensive one.

Guarantee this'll get Melrose Place within not too long.

Mike D is just made that his D is so bad that we had to bring in a real coach, and he knows Woodson or Phil Jackson will take his job next year if he doesn't ante up

This is a piece from the Dec 14th Alan Hahn Newsday article.[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

But Stoudemire doesn't expect to see many minutes at center with the arrival of Tyson Chandler . In fact, Stoudemire said he has worked a lot on his ever-improving perimeter game and could play the role of the "stretch" forward to leave the pick-and-rolls for Chandler. "I've been working on my three-point shot," Stoudemire said.

Would D'Antoni mind seeing his 6-11 All-Star power forward pulling up for threes?

"As long as he makes 'em," D'Antoni said, "I don't care." (not funny)

THIS is why either Woodson or Jackson will replace MOA next season. Amare shouldn't even be taking that many 3s in games to even worry about if he can make them or not. He's not Dirk! Stick to his power/mid rang game Mike!

There isn't anymore excuses for D'Ant now. He has all the resources he needs at his disposal. I still hope this is his last year thou. I'm tired of seeing his silly face screaming at the players as if he was the one out there running back and forth like track stars, trying to make a flawed gameplan work. All he does is burn out the talent we have. This year with all the back2backs is going to make it that much more taxing on players like Stat and Chandler. I don't think he cares about that, he seems to be content with just making the playoffs instead of actually advancing in them.